Rise of the Planet of the Apes

[Celini]

the movie was just about ok for me... I think I was expecting way more than that!
The plot (was there a plot at all?) was extremely linear; the director did not even bother developing ANY of character. I was quite bored half way through!

I'll give it 6/10 for the pretty amazing CGI

Edit: I agree with Beate about the trailers; I want to see Friends with benefits, Crazy stupid love and Johnny English; not too sure about cowboys and aliens either!

[kevinknapman]

Fantastic and quite possibly the best blockbuster of the Summer, just in terms of overall satisfaction.
Caesar's journey and how Weta have helped bring it to the screen is breathtaking. Not to take away from Andy Serkis' motion capture work of course which is just as responsible for giving Caesar a real fully rounded and emotional character.

The human counterparts suffer slightly in comparison though. James Franco is solid if unexceptional, though his scenes with the ever-dependable John Lithgow were very good and moving.
Frieda Pinto has still yet to make any kind of impact post-Slumdog and Brian Cox was efficient if under-used in a role he can pretty much do in his sleep.
David Oyelowo, Tom Felton and David Hewlett were sadly one-dimensional bad guys with no depth whatsoever.

Nice to see an action-blockbuster that takes it's time before delivering big set-pieces and the build-up helped us invest emotionally with Caesar's progression from smart house-dwelling chimp to leader of the apes. The big set-piece when it comes (and takes up the last third of the film) was impressive and very exciting.
The nods to the original film were mostly effective and occasionally playful (references to the Icarus space mission, A Charlton Heston movie on a TV and the model of the Statue of Liberty that Caesar makes at one point). The only mis-step in this regard was the infamous 'dirty ape' line that Tom Felton delivers. It was too explicit a nod to the original and felt clumsy and distracting. Having said that the response to that line is definitely one of this year's finest movie moments and sent a shiver up my spine. Also stay in your seat for the scene during the end-credits that gives a hint as to how we get from this film to the original.

I really enjoyed this a lot. Smart, gripping, thrilling, edge of the seat stuff. Not flawless perhaps but still one of the year's best for me.
It should make for a nice double-bill with Project Nim, the more sober and realistic study of the scientific study of chimps.

[June]

Fantastic and quite possibly the best blockbuster of the Summer, just in terms of overall satisfaction.
Caesar's journey and how Weta have helped bring it to the screen is breathtaking. Not to take away from Andy Serkis' motion capture work of course which is just as responsible for giving Caesar a real fully rounded and emotional character.

The human counterparts suffer slightly in comparison though. James Franco is solid if unexceptional, though his scenes with the ever-dependable John Lithgow were very good and moving.
Frieda Pinto has still yet to make any kind of impact post-Slumdog and Brian Cox was efficient if under-used in a role he can pretty much do in his sleep.
David Oyelowo, Tom Felton and David Hewlett were sadly one-dimensional bad guys with no depth whatsoever.

Nice to see an action-blockbuster that takes it's time before delivering big set-pieces and the build-up helped us invest emotionally with Caesar's progression from smart house-dwelling chimp to leader of the apes. The big set-piece when it comes (and takes up the last third of the film) was impressive and very exciting.
The nods to the original film were mostly effective and occasionally playful (references to the Icarus space mission, A Charlton Heston movie on a TV and the model of the Statue of Liberty that Caesar makes at one point). The only mis-step in this regard was the infamous 'dirty ape' line that Tom Felton delivers. It was too explicit a nod to the original and felt clumsy and distracting. Having said that the response to that line is definitely one of this year's finest movie moments and sent a shiver up my spine. Also stay in your seat for the scene during the end-credits that gives a hint as to how we get from this film to the original.

I really enjoyed this a lot. Smart, gripping, thrilling, edge of the seat stuff. Not flawless perhaps but still one of the year's best for me.
It should make for a nice double-bill with Project Nim, the more sober and realistic study of the scientific study of chimps.

Thank you for yet another excellent review I'm so glad I've got tickets to see this tomorrow, I can't wait and judging by your review, I won't be disappointed

[TheOnes]

Well that was a complete mess. Not the film, the film was awesome. But i was meant to meet Prettyxcool at Shepherds Bush at 10 to let in her friend with my ticket's plus one. I got there at 9:45 and waited by the seats in the lobby and texted them to let them know i had arrived. The only description i had of her was: "We will be the only Oriental Couple there". Me, like a complete moron, took this literally and the first oriental couple i saw i walked up and said: "Hello Pretty!". They looked at me like i poured acid on my penis and then i realised i made mistake and moved back. At 10 a line was forming from all the stragglers and were being let in. I told them that my plus one wasn't here yet but to let them in if they say they were with my name. They said that was fine and i texted her to let her know when i got in the screen. Then i got as text from her saying she was in the lobby with a red bag but i was already in, so i decided to save them some seats for when they get through. Then got a text saying they were in the cinema but were waiting for me to come in, i confirmed i was already inside and we couldnt even locate eachother due to the fact we didnt have any decipherable descriptions to go off of. More chaos ensued and i just proclaimed it a lost cause. Hope your friend got in ok pxc.

Anyway, onto the film. This was a fantastic and emotional film. The character development was just fascinating to watch as it was a completely unique way of progressing a character of Ceaser. He never talks, he never gives monologues about what he is thinking. Its all about his face, and we can read it so brilliantly that its chilling. He didnt even need to know Sign Language for us to know he was able to understand the world around him. Every emotion was played: "Jealously, Anger, Betreyal, Joy, Wonder etc. And all of them enhanced his character and grafted a unique personality for him. It was a joy to watch

Because of this, it was able to create atmosphere unlike anything i have experienced. The buildup is amazing and the scene where he is given a chance at freedom but stays inside to help with the rebellion spoke volumes and was a turning point for his character. He made a decision based on his thought processes and analysing different things. He didn't have to rely on what he was given/told/ended up as.

All of his experiences and emotions he was exhibiting kept building onto the atmosphere and then went into a crescendo when he [spoiler]spoke to Malfoy the Caretaker.[/spoiler] When that happened, the sound track went silent. The camera stayed on that moment. The film let that moment sink in and because of that you felt electrified at this secondary turning point in his character

It wasn't only negative or rebellious atmosphere the film gave you. There is one moment where Ceaser is swinging through tree's near the start, and you see every climate through the 5 years transition into that scene, signifying the passage of time, but it was just gorgeous and a brilliant scene, and, call me silly, but i got chills

The other Chimpanzee's were even more remarkable. Unlike Ceaser, we know nothing of their backgrounds or where they have been, but through the same combination of emotions and decisions they all created their own personality that wasn't mimicked by another chimp, and as such we knew about they're characters without being told

The humans were great too. They seemed to fall into character tropes, but unlike normal cliches, the film gave a reason for why the characters were doing what they were doing, and it was pretty relatable. My one gripe with the human characters is that 5 years went by and we didn't seem to get a good emotional connection between Fanco and his love interest (see, i dont remember her name). We are meant to believe they are together and madly in love over the past 5 years. Okay, i'll b*y that. So why was it such a surprise to her when Franco was telling Ceaser (with her in proximity), where he worked and everything that happened to them both in there. In 5 years and the biggest thing in his life was just neglected to be mentioned? Okaay....

Another complaint i have is we never saw an actual Planet of the Apes. Yeah they took down a few cities and a bridge, big targets, but they were nowhere near overpowering the earth. The scene that explained this was during the credits where [spoiler]the virus that improves apes but kills humans is now airborne[/spoiler] (which started as soon as we were all leaving, an actual connect the dots explanation and 30% of your audience doesnt get it)

But yeah, great film. 9/10

[weliveandbreathewords]

I pretty much agree with KK here.
The CGI of the apes in particular Caesar's facial expressions(and the details on their hands!) were phenomenal, Weta have really out done themselves, naturally Andy Serkis brought life to Caesar just as he has done with previous characters(at one point I noticed how one of the monkey's calls sounded exactly like Gollum).

Naturally I think we were made to root for the apes, seeing Caesar progress through the years, trying to come to terms with why he was there, and as Beate pointed out, resulting in something that resembled a rebellious moody teenager.
As for the human characters, the only character I felt for was John Lithgow, I felt he played the part very well, and my heart sank when things started to go wrong again.
James Franco I struggled to like, he seemed a bit robotic, or too restricted, he didnt fully engage with the scenes, apart from those with his 'father'.

And as for the 'bad guys' I really couldnt care less, they were brutes with no reason to be, no background to them at all, [spoiler]although i'm not sure if I should applaud or criticise the writer who included Tom's awkward yet slightly humorous line(you know what one i'm talking about) but the following line quickly changed that impression and made my hair stand up on my neck my friend also squeeled![/spoiler]

I loved the last part of the film, very smart, very tactical, and reminded me of rainforest tribesmen

Overall, both me and my friend enjoyed it, amazing CGI, a good storyline, smart in places and not too boring, great action scenes without too many explosions(which I hate)
We both agreed on 8/10 :)

[kevinknapman]

great action scenes without too many explosions(which I hate)

That just made me realise something I hadn't spotted at the time. In the trailer there's a shot of Franco driving away from Gen-Sys as a huge explosion takes place in the background. Having seen the film I can't actually imagine how that scene would have fit into the film. I can only assume quite a significant scene was cut.

[valda]

I got to Shepherds Bush all bleary eyed and coffee less about 10.20. It looked really full but luckily Mrg and hs cricket bag were in the front aisle seats so I sat next to him

Well I knew that was going to be a special thing and I was not proven wrong. It was fantastic, what a job Weta did, apart from the baby Ceasar, the rest of the apes were fabulous. Ceasar was such an amazing character and you really felt for him. The
humans, were meh, I only recognized Tom Felton, is he forever destined to be a sneary wimp waving sticks around? Jon Lithgow was moving, such a good actor - hard to beleive he is this the same man in Lovely Bones. James Franco, I didn't even know who he was - I thought he looked a little bit like Ioin Gryyffd (sp?)

I wont say more until others have seen it. Beate, the 2 'oh' scenes were the same at Shep Bush.

This film flew by and I even shed a tear 10/10

edit to say to Theones, that you didn't see a Planet of the Apes, because it was The Rise of, ie the lead up to, well that's my take on it

[kevinknapman]

Jon Lithgow was moving, such a good actor - hard to beleive he is this the same man in Lovely Bones.

Possibly hard to believe as he's not in Lovely Bones.

[paulnadams]

wow........what a terrific film - 105 minutes that for me were brilliantly paced.

The story was well written and nicely told with very impressive visuals and once again, a performance from Serkis that seals him, once again, as a fascinatingly talented performer.

Thrilling, engaging, entertaining - and what going to the cinema, for me, is really about - losing yourself in a good story and not worrying about the passing time.

I would not be surprised at all if, barring the juggernaut of Harry Potter, this is the runaway hit of the summer...word of mouth on this one surely is going to get huge.

Very enjoyable and I happily give it 9/10

[superhero]

Looks like I was wildly optimistic to say the film will do $200 million+ in the states. Its going to open to a slightly disappointing sub $40million this weekend I am afraid.